steve

Sorrry to hear about you mortgage problems. If I may offer a little advice - Northern Rock have some excellent deals at the moment.

Hi, The problem with Trials photography is shooting conditions are rarely perfect, you are often in dark woods ect.. Because you need a fast shutter speed to capture the action you'll have to bump the iso up a bit to get anything that's not blurred. With a compact camera you'll get a lot of 'noise' above 200 iso. This is where an SLR comes into it's own comfortably shooting at 400 or 800 with little or no noise. However you want it pocketable which pretty much rules out an SLR. I would look at some of the Fuji's which have very good low light performance for their size (something to do with their super ccd sensor apparently - check out their web site for technicalities). Try looking for reviews on the F31fd or F41fd on dpreview or steve's digicam. Pay particular attention to the high iso results. Another great little camera is the Panasonic Lumix TZ3. It is compact yet has a fantastic 12x zoom lens starting with a nice wide angle 2.8. I use the Panasonic Lumix FZ8 which is very similar to the TZ3 though in a larger case with viewfinder. There are lots of 'scene' modes and plenty of manual control if you want it. The menus and interface are very easy to navigate through and in the right conditions take some very nice pictures. The 'burst' shoot is about 3fps which is handy. The video isn't too bad either although the zoom is disabled whilst shooting. Let us know what you decide, Steve.

What a great post. Thank you for sharing your rebuild with us. I would love to see some pictures of the bike.

Banbury Nobac or Nene Valley would be your nearest clubs for Trials, not sure about practice areas though.

Over to you Martin - or are you keeping hush until the auction ends!

If he had 'tremendous' skill he would have made it in the WTC. Nice bloke though, I stayed with him for a week in France -1998 I think. He had just been kicked out of the French accadamy for his behaviour!!

Did he buy a pair of them for christmas presents?

An indo board will improve balance

Honda used sidevalve engines in their industrial engines for years in machines like generators, mixers, compactor plates etc... The G100, G150, G200 etc.. were gradually replaced by OHV models (GX range). The last sidevalve was the little G100 used to good effect on Belle Mixers for years but was finally discontinued because it didn't meet european emmision regulations!!

Good idea

It certainly won't do you any harm to stand on the bike and practice balance with the engine dead. Balance does play a major factor in trials so anything you can do to improve yours will ultimately help your riding. Perhaps you could consider a Cycle Trials Bike for practice. I rode Trials for about 10 years when hopping and even reversing was allowed feet up, my balance was very good and was tested on a night out with work mates. There was a surf board on hydraulics, nobody could stand on it for more than a few seconds. To my supprise I found it really easy and could stand up indefinately. The operator asked if I surfed as he had never had anyone do it so well so quickly!!

You load of whingers. I think it's ok. Top gear then Longway Down, a good nights telly.

No he wasn't competing, I think he followed the trial round and did a little trail riding. Big John, my Dad is Mo Bird I think you may know him, if you don't you will certainly have seen him around. I am not sure how many times he has been to the SSDT and Pre 65 to observe but I don't think he has missed many years since the early 60's if any at all. He never did ride in either Trial though. He has always said when he was good enough he couldn't afford it and when he could afford it he wasn't good enough!!! Sadly due to ill health I am not sure if he will make many more trips up North. My one big regret is never riding the trial myself but I hope one day to do the Pre 65 event. I would dearly love my Dad to see me ride it but another year has slipped by.

The photo was taken in 1962 - however the bikes were not new, perhaps 1959? I'll check with Dad later. The location was Kinlochleven, Loch Eild Path, Altnafeadh according to what is written below the picture.

Hi all, My Dad asked me to scan a picture of an old work van he had and on the same page were some pictures of his trials days that I though you may find interesting. I was going to tell you what year but perhaps you might like to guess?

Wouldn't disagree with that. The Montesa is certainly a very well made machine. The Yamaha TY250R is in budget but nowhere near the Montesa in terms of performance - engine, chassis or suspension. They are however very forgiving. The Gas Gas are possibly one of the nicest bike to ride, very good handling, smooth well developed engines with with good power if needed (go for a 250cc) and they are nice and light. The problem is they don't last as well as the Montesa for instance. Parts such as suspension linkage need constant fettling, fork seals and ever frames cracking on older machines. At your budget you are only going to find a tatty one which is false economy, you will end up spending a lot of money on repairing it. The Bultaco you mentioned - do you mean the new era machines which are now Sherco's? If so I would put them in a similar catagory as the Gas Gas. Other makes that might appear an attractive price are best avoided e.g. Aprillia 280/240, early Scorpas with rotax engines, JCM, Fantic K-roo,

Interesting topic, Dabster I watched Jack Lee with some interest at the world round and I think he is doing well. Forming a good personal relationship is vital if the partnership is to work.

Hi, Sorry I can't help with your carb problem, I have a Cota 330 but haven't got it running yet. I don't think there are many people on here with the 330. How's your Spanish? you may be able to get some help on one of the Spanish forums as they are much sought after there for the expert twinshock championship. Good luck. Steve. P.S. Have you got a spare airbox, kickstart and oversize piston kicking about? !!!

Mmmm - Nice job on the Beta. Brings back memories as this was just the era I first started competing and used to long after bikes like this. I also remember watching Jordi Tarres doing amazing trick riding on videos which heavily influenced my riding style.

A British 1-2-3 in the junior class is fantastic. Well done Alexz on your win. I'll be cheering you on at Hawkstone - Just talked the missus into calling into Hawkstone on the way to our holiday in the Lake District !!!

It seemed strange that Rossi caught up with Stoner so quick but took so long to pass, he got by the other 9 easily. I think he deliberately shaddowed Stoner to try and force him into an error. A Stoner DNF would have helped Rossi's chances of the championship. Fair play to Stoner for realising he couldn't win and settling for second. Looks like a different rider from last year.

I actually had 2 sets of riding gear both bright green and purple! The set in the video was the 'official' gear supplied by Rathmells to all the Aprillia team guys. The other set my sponsor gave me was made by Anson (remember them) and had Dirt Diggers down each leg. It's the first time anyone ever game me anything and I thought I looked the business! The practice ground in Corby we shot the Vid at was always scattered with burnt out cars. It wasn't actually a legal area to ride at but the police didn't mind us, it was a bit of a novelty for them to find someone who was riding a bike that wasn't stolen! They often used to ask us to keep a look out for certain cars they looking for - forensics might have had a better chance if they weren't covered in tyre marks when they found them!

A friend filmed this shortly after I had recieved my new 280R. I found it a while ago and edited it. I was sponsored by a new Leicester dealer called Dirt Diggers but never did too well on the bike. I went back to an old Yamaha TY250 in the end. Check out the riding gear! Click here for video

All your fancy sprays and glues all take time to set. The only thing I ever used on my own bikes and when preparing bikes for Crosser and Grimbo was compressed air. Blow the grips on, stick a bit of wire round incase the ends split. Job done - you can ride immediately.

I heard Raga was on a Nick Day replica on Sunday !